1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to automatic computer upgrading. More particularly, the invention pertains to a system and method for updating program information items via a network.
2. Description of the Related Technology
As the popularity of the Internet increases, users are turning from traditional media sources, such as television and newspaper, to the Internet to obtain information about current news events, activities, entertainment and other information. By using a client program which resides on a client computer, a user can visit one of many media servers that contain information which is provided by various content providers. A typical media server may include a plurality of web pages that are viewable by a user at the client computer. The web pages are virtual documents often having embedded links which link portions of the virtual pages to other virtual pages and other data. A user can traverse the virtual pages and download data by selecting with a mouse or other input device a predetermined portion of the virtual page enabled as a link.
Traditionally, the client program has been an Internet browser that allows a user to visit various web pages by providing an address of a selected media server. More recently, however, client programs provide for the automatic downloading and playback of selected items of information to the client computer. As an example, various media servers have been developed offering various “streamable” programs. The term streamable refers to media that can be transmitted from one computer to another, and played in real time as the media is received. A streamable program can include any type of audiovisual presentation, such as, for example, a news report, an entertainment show, a picture, text, or an advertisement.
As a service to the user, the media server provides information about each of the streamable programs to the user so that the user may make an informed selection from the available programs. These media servers are designed to periodically update the client computer with the latest set of program information as it is accumulated.
However, these media servers have encountered difficulty servicing large numbers of users. Some popular media servers may service thousands of client computers. When a content provider desires to make new programming available on the media server, the content provider needs to send the new information each of the new users. Disadvantageously, such an update can cause network congestion within selected portions of the Internet network and consume network resources. Network congestion may cause network packets representing portions of the streamable program to be lost and also impair other communications that are being transmitted over the Internet.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved system for distributing information from a media server to a client computer. The system should minimize the amount of network congestion that is caused by an update from a server computer to a client computer.